Flexible Emotion Regulation: How Situational Demands and Individual Differences Influence the Effectiveness of Regulatory Strategies

The number of studies and theoretical contributions on emotion regulation has grown rapidly. In this article we describe the concept of flexible emotion regulation. We argue that the effectiveness of specific emotion regulation strategies depends on the interaction of the features of a situation and personality characteristics of the individual regulating his/her emotions. We review a few recent theoretical contributions and studies that have attempted to capture some aspects of the flexibility of emotion regulation rather than distinguish between overly adaptive and maladaptive strategies. Moreover, we discuss potential personality determinants of effectiveness of particular regulatory strategies. We claim that further studies should address the interaction of situational and dispositional factors in shaping the effectiveness of particular emotion regulation strategies. So far, situational and personality determinants have been studied rather separately

The role of the gynaecologist in the promotion and maintenance of oral health during pregnancy

Objectives: The aim of the study was to assess routine dental examination attendance of pregnant women and a possible impact of gynaecological referrals on the attendance rate. Material and methods: An electronic survey was conducted that was inclusive of women up to 5 years following delivery. The questions related to socio-demographic data, the course of pregnancy and childbirth, and visits to dental office during pregnancy. For statistical analysis, the authors utilized the chi-square test, Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient and odds ratios. A significance level of 0.05 has been assumed. Results: A total of 3455 questionnaires were analyzed encompassing women aged 13.1–45.4 years. The respondents were on average 1.78 ± 1.44 years after childbirth. The population comprises of women in 59.1% from large cities, in 74.8% with higher education and in 41% with good socio-economic status. A total of 62.3% of women from the study population have visited a dentist for a routine dental examination. Gynaecologists have given a simple referral to a dentist to 17.6% of all women. 45.9% of them were further requested to provide back the feedback of their dental consultation. Dental appoint­ments were upheld by 87.3% of referred women and by 56.9% of those without a referral (OR = 5.20 (4.05–6.67); p < 0.001). Among those who were referred, dental appointments were upheld in 91.7% of cases when further asked to provide oral health feedback and in 83.5% of cases in absence of such further request (OR = 2.19 (1.3–3.66); p = 0.003). Conclusions: It was determined that referrals from a gynaecologist, and associated oral health feedback requests increase the frequency of abiding to dental appointments during pregnancy. As such, it is necessary to increase the involvement of gynaecologists in the promotion and maintenance of perinatal oral health

Dynamic Modelling of Mental Resilience in Young Adults: Protocol for a Longitudinal Observational Study (DynaM-OBS)

Background Stress-related mental disorders are highly prevalent and pose a substantial burden on individuals and society. Improving strategies for the prevention and treatment of mental disorders requires a better understanding of their risk and resilience factors. This multicenter study aims to contribute to this endeavor by investigating psychological resilience in healthy but susceptible young adults over 9 months. Resilience is conceptualized in this study as the maintenance of mental health or quick recovery from mental health perturbations upon exposure to stressors, assessed longitudinally via frequent monitoring of stressors and mental health. Objective This study aims to investigate the factors predicting mental resilience and adaptive processes and mechanisms contributing to mental resilience and to provide a methodological and evidence-based framework for later intervention studies. Methods In a multicenter setting, across 5 research sites, a sample with a total target size of 250 young male and female adults was assessed longitudinally over 9 months. Participants were included if they reported at least 3 past stressful life events and an elevated level of (internalizing) mental health problems but were not presently affected by any mental disorder other than mild depression. At baseline, sociodemographic, psychological, neuropsychological, structural, and functional brain imaging; salivary cortisol and α-amylase levels; and cardiovascular data were acquired. In a 6-month longitudinal phase 1, stressor exposure, mental health problems, and perceived positive appraisal were monitored biweekly in a web-based environment, while ecological momentary assessments and ecological physiological assessments took place once per month for 1 week, using mobile phones and wristbands. In a subsequent 3-month longitudinal phase 2, web-based monitoring was reduced to once a month, and psychological resilience and risk factors were assessed again at the end of the 9-month period. In addition, samples for genetic, epigenetic, and microbiome analyses were collected at baseline and at months 3 and 6. As an approximation of resilience, an individual stressor reactivity score will be calculated. Using regularized regression methods, network modeling, ordinary differential equations, landmarking methods, and neural net–based methods for imputation and dimension reduction, we will identify the predictors and mechanisms of stressor reactivity and thus be able to identify resilience factors and mechanisms that facilitate adaptation to stressors. Results Participant inclusion began in October 2020, and data acquisition was completed in June 2022. A total of 249 participants were assessed at baseline, 209 finished longitudinal phase 1, and 153 finished longitudinal phase 2. Conclusions The Dynamic Modelling of Resilience–Observational Study provides a methodological framework and data set to identify predictors and mechanisms of mental resilience, which are intended to serve as an empirical foundation for future intervention studies. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) DERR1-10.2196/3981

Psycho-social factors associated with mental resilience in the Corona lockdown.

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is not only a threat to physical health but is also having severe impacts on mental health. Although increases in stress-related symptomatology and other adverse psycho-social outcomes, as well as their most important risk factors have been described, hardly anything is known about potential protective factors. Resilience refers to the maintenance of mental health despite adversity. To gain mechanistic insights about the relationship between described psycho-social resilience factors and resilience specifically in the current crisis, we assessed resilience factors, exposure to Corona crisis-specific and general stressors, as well as internalizing symptoms in a cross-sectional online survey conducted in 24 languages during the most intense phase of the lockdown in Europe (22 March to 19 April) in a convenience sample of N = 15,970 adults. Resilience, as an outcome, was conceptualized as good mental health despite stressor exposure and measured as the inverse residual between actual and predicted symptom total score. Preregistered hypotheses (osf.io/r6btn) were tested with multiple regression models and mediation analyses. Results confirmed our primary hypothesis that positive appraisal style (PAS) is positively associated with resilience (p < 0.0001). The resilience factor PAS also partly mediated the positive association between perceived social support and resilience, and its association with resilience was in turn partly mediated by the ability to easily recover from stress (both p < 0.0001). In comparison with other resilience factors, good stress response recovery and positive appraisal specifically of the consequences of the Corona crisis were the strongest factors. Preregistered exploratory subgroup analyses (osf.io/thka9) showed that all tested resilience factors generalize across major socio-demographic categories. This research identifies modifiable protective factors that can be targeted by public mental health efforts in this and in future pandemics

Emotional intelligence and emotion regulation strategies

Do emotional abilities relate to specifi c strategies of emotion regulation? Do people with higher emotional intelligence (EI) use more effi cient affect regulation strategies? In the current study we tried to answer these questions. Using a sample of 349 undergraduate students, the present study explored the relationships between emotional intelligence (assessed with performance measure) and the habitual use of suppression and reappraisal. Results showed that higher emotional intelligence was related to more frequent use of reappraisal, and less frequent employment of suppression. As in the previous studies, males and females signifi cantly differed in suppression: men suppressed more than women. However, our results revealed that this difference could be attributed only to men with low EI. Emotionally unintelligent men used suppression more frequently not only in comparison to women, but also to men with higher EI. With respect to the habitual use of reappraisal, only men disclosed a signifi cant relation to EI level: those male participants who revealed the highest EI level declared employment of reappraisal more frequently than other groups

For Body and Mind: Practicing Yoga and Emotion Regulation

The purpose of the present study was to examine if the length of yoga training may influence the use of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression (as emotion regulation strategies) and whether this relationship may be moderated by personality traits. Based on previous studies, we hypothesized that the link between the length of yoga practice and emotion regulation can rely most heavily on participants’ conscientiousness and extraversion levels. Ninety women in two groups participated in the study: those who have been practicing yoga for over a year and those who have been practicing for a shorter period of time. An Emotion Regulation Questionnaire was applied to measure the use the strategies of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. Moreover, personality traits, based on the Big Five model were assessed. The results of the study provided support for our prediction: participants who engaged in yoga practice for a longer period of time (as compared to participants who practiced yoga for a shorter duration), reported using cognitive reappraisal more often. Furthermore, longer yoga practice was more beneficial than shorter practice especially for individuals with low levels of conscientiousness and extraversion. Thus, extraversion and conscientiousness seem to facilitate the process of drawing benefits from practicing yoga

Emotional intelligence and emotion regulation strategies repertoire and effectiveness

Wysoka inteligencja emocjonalna (IE) pozwala elastycznie radzić sobie z trudnościami, łatwo adaptować się do zmian i daje możliwość korzystania z szerokiego repertuaru strategii radzenia sobie w trudnych sytuacjach. Z kolei szeroki repertuar strategii odgrywa kluczową rolę w skutecznej regulacji emocji i jest ważnym aspektem elastycznej regulacji. Jednak do tej pory żadne badania nie dotyczyły bezpośrednio związku IE z elastyczną regulacją emocji. Celem naszego badania było sprawdzenie zależności między IE a szerokością repertuaru strategii (liczbą wszystkich stosowanych strategii), liczbą stosowanych strategii adaptacyjnych oraz efektywnością tych strategii. Uczestnicy (N = 180) wypełnili Kwestionariusz strategii regulacji emocji oraz Test inteligencji emocjonalnej za pośrednictwem platformy internetowej. Wyniki pokazały, że osoby z wyższą IE deklarowały stosowanie większej liczby strategii oraz stosowanie bardziej adaptacyjnych strategii niż osoby z niższą IE. Ponadto okazało się, że istnieje pozytywna korelacja między IE a subiektywnie ocenianą efektywnością stosowanych strategii. Wyniki te wydają się być obiecującym wstępem do dalszych badań nad elastyczną regulacją emocji.High emotional intelligence (EI) is supposed to allow people flexibly cope with difficulties, easily adapt to changes and use a broad repertoire of coping strategies. Moreover, a broadness of strategies repertoire may have a crucial role in effective emotion regulation and it is an important aspect of flexible regulation. However, no studies so far investigated the relationships of EI and flexible emotion regulation directly. The aim of the present research was to examine the relationship between the EI and: the broadness of strategies’ repertoire (number of strategies used), the number of adaptive strategies used and the effectiveness of the strategies. Participants (N = 180) completed the Questionnaire of Emotion Regulation Strategies and Emotional Intelligence Test via Internet platform. We found that individuals with higher EI declared using more strategies as well as using more adaptive strategies than participants with lower EI. Furthermore, the results indicate that there is a positive correlation between EI and strategies’ effectiveness. These results provide new findings on the relationship between emotion reg- ulation and EI which is a promising direction for further research on flexible emotion regulation

On Safe Space in Education: A Polish-Vietnamese Comparative Study

Safe space describes a classroom climate that feels secure, supportive, and risk-free so that students can honestly express their individuality and opinions without fear of being the target of violence harassment, or hate speech. In this paper, we examine the relationship between the school environment, individual characteristics and family in shaping students’ perceptions of safe learning environment. The Safe Learning Environment Survey was designed and distributed to a convenience sample of 360 undergraduate students at universities in Poland and Vietnam. Results reveal that neither sex nor family context affect students’ feeling of safety at school. However, there is a high association with nationality in feeling safe at school. Polish and Vietnamese students differ in their opinions why safe space should be enhanced as well as what the teacher and peers’ roles are in shaping safe atmospheres. These findings have significant implications for multicultural classes: understanding the factors that enhance school safety will help to form the collaborative and inclusive environment where students’ performance improves

Standalone Smartphone Cognitive Behavioral Therapy-Based Ecological Momentary Interventions to Increase Mental Health: Narrative Review

BACKGROUND: A growing number of psychological interventions are delivered via smartphones with the aim of increasing the efficacy and effectiveness of these treatments and providing scalable access to interventions for improving mental health. Most of the scientifically tested apps are based on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) principles, which are considered the gold standard for the treatment of most mental health problems. OBJECTIVE: This review investigates standalone smartphone-based ecological momentary interventions (EMIs) built on principles derived from CBT that aim to improve mental health. METHODS: We searched the MEDLINE, PsycINFO, EMBASE, and PubMed databases for peer-reviewed studies published between January 1, 2007, and January 15, 2020. We included studies focusing on standalone app-based approaches to improve mental health and their feasibility, efficacy, or effectiveness. Both within- and between-group designs and studies with both healthy and clinical samples were included. Blended interventions, for example, app-based treatments in combination with psychotherapy, were not included. Selected studies were evaluated in terms of their design, that is, choice of the control condition, sample characteristics, EMI content, EMI delivery characteristics, feasibility, efficacy, and effectiveness. The latter was defined in terms of improvement in the primary outcomes used in the studies. RESULTS: A total of 26 studies were selected. The results show that EMIs based on CBT principles can be successfully delivered, significantly increase well-being among users, and reduce mental health symptoms. Standalone EMIs were rated as helpful (mean 70.8%, SD 15.3; n=4 studies) and satisfying for users (mean 72.6%, SD 17.2; n=7 studies). CONCLUSIONS: Study quality was heterogeneous, and feasibility was often not reported in the reviewed studies, thus limiting the conclusions that can be drawn from the existing data. Together, the studies show that EMIs may help increase mental health and thus support individuals in their daily lives. Such EMIs provide readily available, scalable, and evidence-based mental health support. These characteristics appear crucial in the context of a global crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic but may also help reduce personal and economic costs of mental health impairment beyond this situation or in the context of potential future pandemics